PLATTE RIVER BASIN

06714000 SOUTH PLATTE RIVER AT DENVER, CO

LOCATION.--Lat 39°45'35", long 105°00'10", in NW14SE14 sec.28, T.3 S., R.68 W., Denver County, Hydrologic Unit 10190003, on right bank 90 ft upstream from Nineteenth Street Bridge in Denver, and 0.4 mi downstream from Cherry Creek.

DRAINAGE AREA.--3,861 mi2.

PERIOD OF RECORD.--May to October 1889, June to October 1890, July 1895 to current year. Monthly discharge only for some periods, published in
WSP 1310. Statistical summary computed for 1976 to current year, subsequent to completion of Chatfield Dam. For a complete listing of historical data available for this site, see http://waterdata.usgs.gov/co/nwis/inventory/?site_no=06714000

REVISED RECORDS.--WSP 1310: 1934(M). WSP 1730: 1957(M). WDR CO-86-1: Drainage area.

GAGE.--Water-stage recorder with satellite telemetry. Datum of gage is 5,157.64 ft above NGVD of 1929, adjustment of 1960. Prior to Aug. 12, 1909, nonrecording
gages, and Aug. 12, 1909 to Aug. 28, 1931, water-stage recorder, at several sites within 0.5 mi of present site at various datums.
Aug. 29, 1931 to June 28, 1965, water-stage recorder at site 70 ft downstream at datum 3.66 ft lower. June 29, 1965 to Mar. 18, 1966, water-stage
recorder at site 70 ft downstream at present datum.

REMARKS.--No estimated daily discharges. Records good except for flows above 530 ft3/s, which are fair. Natural flow of stream affected by transmountain diversions, storage reservoirs, power developments, ground-water withdrawals and diversions for irrigation of about 79,000 acres and municipal use, and return flow from irrigated areas.

COOPERATION.--Records collected and computed by Colorado Division of Water Resources and reviewed by Geological Survey.

Discharge, cubic feet per second 

WATER YEAR OCTOBER 2002 TO SEPTEMBER 2003

DAILY MEAN VALUES

DAY	OCT	NOV	DEC	JAN	FEB	MAR	APR	MAY	JUN	JUL	AUG	SEP
1	119	77	61	77	52	69	354	932	495	216	247	381
2	319	77	61	83	53	72	323	685	564	343	179	379
3	113	82	63	75	101	67	319	669	495	319	134	359
4	96	75	64	72	74	62	389	617	384	177	216	314
5	84	73	63	75	55	61	345	517	394	160	310	297
6	82	76	62	86	55	66	415	420	306	168	133	341
7	84	70	62	68	55	57	352	387	582	256	174	271
8	78	66	65	62	60	58	429	334	249	135	316	239
9	79	59	67	60	60	55	564	422	212	122	183	262
10	84	63	65	59	61	56	544	1,110	346	124	116	351
11	76	65	60	57	60	55	479	565	423	99	179	338
12	72	61	56	60	54	53	352	496	392	83	264	239
13	76	59	55	62	56	53	391	464	364	81	185	177
14	80	67	55	62	61	54	496	405	377	74	180	164
15	82	65	58	60	90	54	476	283	201	133	178	160
16	80	66	60	59	67	57	751	316	307	160	114	146
17	78	63	59	57	62	208	655	429	413	164	98	139
18	77	61	58	57	52	369	521	436	831	197	192	134
19	73	59	55	58	53	214	1,020	488	461	523	139	123
20	78	60	53	59	53	373	566	463	272	250	96	123
21	78	58	57	59	55	543	546	461	363	199	91	120
22	72	58	58	59	55	555	635	415	409	216	91	124
23	75	57	60	58	62	597	868	249	360	202	87	103
24	72	67	65	53	59	412	1,270	283	399	213	87	125
25	74	77	66	54	58	621	627	457	385	127	90	139
26	76	69	66	59	72	708	553	513	302	134	140	175
27	90	63	71	59	77	631	535	522	285	211	168	182
28	82	58	71	51	73	462	598	517	279	257	173	185
29	160	57	72	55	---	390	831	488	291	405	218	188
30	108	60	74	57	---	406	1,020	609	279	543	1,080	189
31	86	---	73	60	---	444	---	584	---	277	593	---
TOTAL	2,883	1,968	1,935	1,932	1,745	7,882	17,224	15,536	11,420	6,568	6,451	6,467
MEAN	93.0	65.6	62.4	62.3	62.3	254	574	501	381	212	208	216
MAX	319	82	74	86	101	708	1,270	1,110	831	543	1,080	381
MIN	72	57	53	51	52	53	319	249	201	74	87	103
AC-FT	5,720	3,900	3,840	3,830	3,460	15,630	34,160	30,820	22,650	13,030	12,800	12,830
STATISTICS OF MONTHLY MEAN DATA FOR WATER YEARS 1976 - 2003, BY WATER YEAR (WY)
MEAN	195	186	139	128	142	196	428	880	793	559	464	228
MAX	1,184	809	366	282	273	420	1,377	2,970	2,759	2,546	1,774	911
(WY)	(1985)	(1985)	(1985)	(1985)	(1984)	(1983)	(1984)	(1980)	(1983)	(1995)	(1984)	(1984)
MIN	66.8	65.6	62.4	62.3	62.3	94.9	99.1	141	150	87.5	71.3	76.5
(WY)	(1978)	(2003)	(2003)	(2003)	(2003)	(1978)	(1982)	(2002)	(2002)	(2002)	(2002)	(1977)

SUMMARY STATISTICS	FOR 2002 CALENDAR YEAR	FOR 2003 WATER YEAR	WATER YEARS 1976 - 2003
ANNUAL TOTAL	39,644	82,011
ANNUAL MEAN	109	225	a363
HIGHEST ANNUAL MEAN			961 1983
LOWEST ANNUAL MEAN			120 2002
HIGHEST DAILY MEAN	851 May 24	1,270 Apr 24	b4,020 May 27, 1987
LOWEST DAILY MEAN	42 Aug 2	51 Jan 28	c42 Aug 2, 2002
ANNUAL SEVEN-DAY MINIMUM	48 Aug 14	54 Mar 9	48 Aug 14, 2002
MAXIMUM PEAK FLOW		2,590 Aug 30	d12,600 Jul 25, 1998
MAXIMUM PEAK STAGE		6.59 Aug 30	10.90 Jul 25, 1998
ANNUAL RUNOFF (AC-FT)	78,630	162,700	262,600
10 PERCENT EXCEEDS	177	528	722
50 PERCENT EXCEEDS	90	123	186
90 PERCENT EXCEEDS	57	57	85

a Average discharge for 79 years (water years 1896-1974), 344 ft3/s; 249,200 acre-ft/yr, prior to completion of Chatfield Dam. b Maximum daily discharge for period of record, 12,000 ft3/s, Jun 17, 1965. c Minimum daily discharge for period of record, 8.8 ft3/s, Mar 25, 1951. d Maximum discharge and stage for period of record, 40,300 ft3/s, Jun 17, 1965, gage height, 18.66 ft, from floodmarks, present datum, from rating curve extended above 2,700 ft3/s, on basis of contracted-opening measurement of peak flow.